[i]Vernon's Legacy[/i] is another representative of the wave of first-person indie horror-adventure games using the amazing Unreal Engine 4 from 2016. Unfortunately I can't say that it stands out from the crowd, as the initially promising atmosphere and story quickly dwindles into (below) mediocrity. While some people dared to compare this game to [url=steamcommunity.com/id/atisz2/recommended/57300/]Amnesia: The Dark Descent[/url], mainly because of the note/memo-based storytelling formula (or the way our protagonist carries his lantern which sways by the way as if there were no gravity), I think any comparison would be a disgrace to that amazing game.
In Germany, shortly after World War I, a young man named Robert returns to the mansion of his recently deceased uncle, the titular Vernon's. With the servants gone, the building is now completely abandoned. While exploring the old manor he finds various letters and notes written either by the late owner or by the attendants which mention strange events taking place in the estate originating from the vault/catacomb system down under. As it turns out, there is a 'great evil' dwelling down there, which has to be stopped or else...
First of all, I think it would be important to mention that the game can be divided into 2 parts: the first half functions as an adventure game (or 'walking simulator' if you will) where we search for keys, unlock doors, collect a few items and solve puzzles to advance; meanwhile the second half consists mostly of hectic running from the mentioned evil entity, degrading gameplay into a second-rate Slenderman-clone (well, not exactly, since the monster in this case floats or rather flows following a pattern, but if it notices us, it will give chase).
So, is this a horror game then? Well, to a certain extent, it is. Surprisingly, the first half of the game somewhat succeeds to create the required atmosphere within the old, abandoned mansion and the sounds of the raging thunderstorm outside. The latter half however, despite the excessively loud sound effects of the nearing monstrosity with screen shaking, quickly ruins the fun and becomes more of a frustrating chore rather than a horrendous experience we all love in horror game and the reason why we play them. This evil entity (which is basically a huge, flowing, etheral skull) is rather clumsy looking itself, but given the nature of the underground maze, it can corner us with no places to hide (we can slam the occasional door in its face - if there is one) and can sometimes grab us by seemingly effortlessly passing through corners too, so we are going to die a lot. The autosave points are frequently placed and there's no punishment for dying, but it will still cause a considerable amount of frustration (unless the thing gets stuck in something - which can be the source of further annoyance since at the end of the game we [b]HAVE TO[/b] provoke it to follow us).
In case anyone wonders how the monster looks like, here, so you don't have to buy the game just for this:
steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1923912644
Unfortunately the first half of the game isn't without problems either, since there are only a handful of puzzles and some of them don't really make much sense such as the segment where we have to pour alcohol over the map or the rather trial & error method of safe opening part.
The other really problematic part which bothered me was related to the notes: I managed to find all of them in the first half, but when we first encounter the being, collecting them will be nearly impossible. It'll be hard enough to run away from it, without paying attention to such luxuries as picking up randomly paced sheets of papers while fleeing. Despite this I still managed to obtain about 2/3 of the notes in the second half, sometimes even going back from safety and searching for more, risking my progress, but still couldn't find more. I dare to say that not all diary excerpts/entries exist (maybe in some unexplorable corners far in the lower catacombs, that requires the monster to be stuck), which is a shame since I enjoyed reading them (after all these are the only elements in the game which provide the plot itself). Fortunately the ones which tell us what to do are usually in plain sight.
The game takes advantage of Unreal Engine 4, the mansion's interior is wonderful to look at: the picturesque rooms and hallways are probably the game's only strength. My only grief regarding this was the washed-out, greenish colour palette the game uses :/
steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1923696508
This changes too as we reach the second half, where the similar looking corridors of the cellar and the catacombs won't offer much variety as opposed to what we've seen before (the pitch black darkness doesn't help either).
Sound effects are quite loud, which isn't uncommon in horror games, but it's problematic if these provide the main source of tension. There's only 1 short sinister-sounding track which only plays whenever we read said notes.
[i]Vernon's Legacy[/i] is a big disappointment, as it can't really do anything right despite the given resources: the great enviroment and graphics engine. If the game stays at the formula of the first half, it could have been better altogether, but still a bit boring, run-of-the-mill horror adventure. The second half however makes the end result undisputablely worse and turns it into a primitive version of cat-and-mouse game, something I wouldn't even recommend at a serious discount.
PROS
+ proper use of Unreal Engine 4, nice graphics
+ first half of the game is kind of all right mainly because of the atmosphere
CONS
- primitive gameplay in the second half
- several notes are impossible to be found
- some of the puzzles are based on trial & error
- unsatisfying ending
- no music basically
- very short
RATING
2.5/10
